1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus which converts a picture style of a photographed image, a picture style conversion method for use in the image processing apparatus, and a storage medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, attempts have been made to not only display an image photographed by a digital camera as such, but also display such an image by subjecting it to various edits and processes. For example, as disclosed in Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2012-033011, there has been proposed a technique of converting the picture style of a photographed image to a painting style.
Attention has been paid to a stained glass which is widely used for decorations of windows of churches or European-style buildings. A stained glass is formed by coupling pieces of colored glass by using a rim of lead with an H-shaped cross section, and a picture or a pattern is expressed. Although the stained glass was not popular in the era of modernist architecture, it has revived in recent years because the stained glass is seen very beautiful by transmissive light from the outside, and the stained glass has now been adopted in public buildings and houses.
However, an actual stained glass requires a window, and also requires much labor and cost. This being the case, there has been a demand for a technique by which a favorite photo of a user, for example, is processed and used as a stained glass.